GR hopes to be lab for Google

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) -- The city of Grand Rapids is applying to be a test market for the Google Fiber experimental Internet service, which promises speeds 100 times greater "than what most Americans have access to today."

"How could we pass up an opportunity like this?" said Paul Klimas, the city information technology director.

The ultra-fast service would benefit consumers, Klimas said Thursday, but also schools, government and business, including Grand Rapids' growing medical and life sciences sector.

The only cost to the city would be the time it takes to assemble the application, Klimas said, which uses data the city already has gathered for its participation in a wireless Internet technology dubbed WiMAX. Legal battles between the corporations involved have ended, paving the way for that project to continue, Klimas said, although no timeline is in place.

"Between the two of them (Google and WiMAX), we should really be a hotbed of Internet connectivity in the nation," he told 24 Hour News 8.

Google is looking for demographics and other information about the city, including details such as what company controls utility poles. Communities have until March 26 to file a "request for information" with the California technology giant, which will be used "to determine where to build our network."

Grand Rapids' application would be bolstered by community support, said Klimas and a Google representative, and some in the region already are stepping up.

A Facebook page dubbed "Google Fiber for Grand Rapids" already has more than 600 fans.

Douglas Lang of the recently founded Grand Rapids Technology Partnership wants residents to bolster the city's application by going to the project's Web site, clicking 'get involved' and nominating Grand Rapids.

"We can be the biggest cheerleaders for our city and for what we want to see from Google," Lang told 24 Hour News 8.

The service could allow users to "download an entire DVD of content in four minutes," he said. "The speed is amazing."

And with regular online video viewing, the experience would be much more like TV, Lang said. When you click on a stream, you'd see the content instantly.

Google promises the service will be cost-competitive.

So, will Grand Rapids be selected?

Aside from community support, Google is looking at other local factors that will "impact the efficiency and speed of our deployment," said Minne Ingersoll, a Google alternative access team product manager.

Those include "local resources, weather conditions, approved construction methods and local regulatory issues. We will also take into account broadband availability and speeds that are already offered to users within a community," she told 24 Hour News 8 in a statement.

The technology firm already has an office in Ann Arbor.

And the region's burgeoning medical-life sciences could draw the company's attention.

Klimas said he felt the city is the ideal size for Google.

"We're not too big, we're not too small," he said. The project's page states the firm will initially offer the service to between 50,000 and 500,000 people.